Alfred Corum was born in 1890 into a family determined to encourage both his musical skills and his socialist politics. Taking both from his mother, by the beginning of the first world war he was a professional musician and composer, in addition to being a well known socialist speaker making appearances on street corners around Tooting. In 1916 his strong socialist principles led him to refuse not just conscription but any compromise with military authority whatsoever. After his arrest as an absentee in September 1916, he spent the war in and out of prison, barrack guard rooms and court martial hearings, serving three sentences and eventually being released in April 1919. He spent his prison sentences in Wandsworth and Wormwood Scrubs, but it was his time in Winchester that saw him meet Alan McDougall and the pair embarked on an ambitious project - the publication of a prison newspaper called "The Winchester Whisperer".

The newspaper was compiled and edited by Corum and McDougall from surreptitiously assembled notes and poems, drawings and games written by the other CO prisoners. It formed a lifeline of humour, news and diversion to COs suffering the cruel and callous prison system. His editorial work in the Winchester Whisperer shows something of his cheerful and friendly reputation. Another CO, George Baker, wrote of Alfred during his time in Winchester "[he] cared for things more excellent… the miracle of music". After his release, Alf continued to work on his music, becoming a well known, if minor, composer. Marrying a committed socialist, Evelyn, in 1920, both went on to become key members in the early years of the Communist Party and much of Alf's music was inspired by the struggle against exploitation and capitalism that he believed in.

Alf died in 1969.

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